Autumn Oak Homestead

Our Thanksgiving

I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving...Mine was okay, not great, just okay...We always go to my mother in law's house on Thanksgiving, and then I cook our Thanksgiving meal on Friday...This sounds fine, at first...The only problem is that Friday is "Black Friday" and Germain has to work...So for the whole day, I am home cooking the entire meal while trying to keep the kids at bay...Most times the kids are not the most cooperative, and I end up thinking to myself, "I am not doing this next year"...Then the next year comes and it is the same thing all over again! :-)...By the time I sit down to eat and gaze upon the happiness on Germain's face at the meal in front of him, I forget all about the craziness of the day...I enjoy the meal and then all is well...But all was not well this year...Germain still had the look of pure happiness on his face (Germain LOVES to eat), but the meal wasn't the greatest to me...Something about my turkey was off this year...After all of that hard work...Germain was grateful, but the boys complained...

Here is my plate from Friday...I ate way more than I usually do, as the rest of the meal was fine...I just didn't enjoy the turkey as much...It tasted better on Saturday though...

Now that I have been totally negative about my Thanksgiving holiday experience :-0, I will express the bright side...There is always so much to be grateful for, not just on Thanksgiving, but all year long...Many went without a meal this past weekend and I am grateful to have eaten, regardless of what the turkey tasted like...I also now know what Germain and I need to help the boys with...A lack of gratitude is a character issue that we all need to deal with...

Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed your holiday and had a great time with your families...I am very grateful for my family and love the time I get to spend with them...

Until next time...

The Cow Parade

I know, I am probably the only person you have ever heard of that has actually gone to a "cow parade", but our family went to one yesterday!...

There were also goats there, but they were not part of the parade...

It turned out to be a great afternoon...If your town ever has a cow parade, I highly recommend it :-)

Until next time...

Homeschool Week 6 - In Review

We are completing our 6th week of our school year...The boys have been enjoying Tapestry of Grace...I am really surprised Keanu is enjoying it, as he typically doesn't like a lot of reading...Back when I was planning and the books were coming in the mail Keanu said to me, "I can't read all of that...I don't think I am going to like this Tapestry of Grace"...Germain was quick to jump in and let him know that he actually can read all of that (gotta love Germain :-0)...Unmoved by Keanu's objection (if you know us IRL, you know this is not a child led home), we started with week 1...It went okay, but by week 3, Keanu was loving it...He enjoyed "A Place in the Sun" (it is on the out of print list, but I was able to get a copy) and he has declared the Gilgamesh books to be the best books he has ever read!...His reading is also improving...I figured he didn't like to read because he wasn't good at it (nothing is enjoyable if you are not good at it), so we picked a literature intense curriculum to give him the practice that he so desperately needed - and still needs...So far so good...

He also LOVED learning about the ancient Egyptians...

I snapped this picture of him writing his name in hieroglyphics (during his free time, mind you)...

Here it is after he completed it...He has gone on to write all of our names in hieroglyphics...Maybe he will do the family name on nice paper for me and I can frame it...

Well, that is my review so far...We have 30 more weeks to go so...

Until next time...

Ramblings...

We did not make a big deal out of Halloween this year...We did take the boys trick or treating (well Germain took the boys, I stayed home and gave out treats)...

These three characters went out for an hour and came home with all of this...

And they did this while being accompanied by this man...

Germain bought one of those plain white masks and colored it like this to make it scary looking...It was kind of scary looking, especially in the dark...

The boys pulled out dress up stuff and costumes we already owned instead of getting something new...We are planning to buy the house we are living in during 2012, so the old budget kicked in...We decided not to spend money on new costumes, or fall decorations in general...We will still get a Christmas tree and make the home somewhat festive for the holidays, but as for other stuff, buying the house is more important...Since I can't engage in my normal decorating activities, I decided to get the house organized during this time period...Then I will decorate after the house is bought (and organized :-)

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One thing I have been thinking about is this blog (this post isn't titled "ramblings" for no reason :-0)...Blogs usually have a main theme, like "homeschooling", "organization", "knitting", or whatever...What is the theme of this blog?...I can't decide on one...I am a homeschooling mom, I am trying to organize my home and get better at being organized in general, I am learning how to knit and am really enjoying it so far, and I also love decorating and pretty clothes...And I am also not an expert on any of these things (or anything else for that matter), so I can't have an expert blog where I am really showing people how to do something...So I guess the answer for me is to not have one theme...I will simply pick days and devote them to a topic that I love, a day devoted to our homeschool, a day devoted to our home, a day devoted to knitting, etc...There are only so many days in a week and so many days I can blog, so I will have to choose wisely...

Until next time...

Crafting Love

I started making a new scarf for myself yesterday (well really Monday night)...It is my first time making something like this and I love it so far...The pattern was really easy for me to memorize and I am hoping to be done in the next two weeks...It is the most enjoyable thing I have knit so far...I know this is not saying much since I haven't knit too many things, but it is still my favorite so far...I am using one of the yarns I got from Rhinebeck, and I love the colors...

I finally finished the scarf I was making for Germain...I started it at the end of last year, put it down, and picked it up again this year to finish it for him...I told him I would have it done before it gets cold or snows, so when that October snow storm hit us, I stayed up late to get it finished and still didn't finish until the day of the storm...He wore it the next day :-)...It is a simple masculine scarf, but warm because it is wool...

Don't worry, he didn't wear that tee shirt the day after the storm...The scarf isn't that warm!...He just modeled the scarf for me...

I didn't forget about Halloween...I will post a pic of the boys tomorrow...

Until next time...